ESPN sent down an internal directive this week that bans any of its on-air personnel from appearing as a guest on WFAN, The Post has learned.

As part of a larger memo that impacts its owned and operated stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Dallas, ESPN is preventing its analysts from appearing on non-ESPN radio stations in those markets.

This means that guests such as Peter Gammons or Kirk Herbstreit will have to go against company policy if they want to appear on FAN.

“It makes good business sense that ESPN should be the home of ESPN talent,” ESPN spokesman Dan Quinn said.

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Nothing is signed yet, but Dusty Baker is close to a deal with ESPN to replace Harold Reynolds on Baseball Tonight.

If you want to have an easy interview with Mike & the Mad Dog, do it in studio. While Mike Francesa and Chris Russo have no problem yelling at the likes of Yankee GM Brian Cashman on the phone, they have been almost deferential in two studio appearances by Cablevision owner James Dolan.

Though we can’t condone the boys when they are disrespectful to their guests, it is odd how they rolled over for Dolan on Tuesday.

Strangely, Dolan passed on sitting down with Michael Kay on 1050 ESPN Radio, which is the home of Dolan’s Knicks and Rangers.

“He simply made a decision he wanted to go on with Mike and Chris,” said MSG spokesman Barry Watkins. “No more to it than that.” In other words, Dolan felt he would have an easier interview with Francesa and Russo than he would with Kay.

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By the way, during their Wednesday show in which they went heavy on movie talk, Russo and Francesa kept referring to Eddie Murphy as “Eddie Murray.” At one point, Russo said, “Eddie Murray, I don’t consider him a big actor.” That makes two of us.

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Sweeny Murti may be leaving WFAN for Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Murti, FAN’s Yankee beat reporter, is a leading candidate to be the Phillies’ pre- and post-game radio host.

“That’s true,” said Murti, who declined further comment.

Murti grew up two hours from Philadelphia. Murti, 36, has been on the Yankee beat for six years at FAN.

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Dating back to 1998, CBS’ NFL Today had only beaten Fox’ NFL Sunday one time in the ratings before this year. Though Fox still leads the overall season ratings by 20 percent, CBS – which swiped host James Brown this year – has earned a higher number for four weeks this season.

CBS – which has the AFC package and inferior markets to Fox’s NFC – sent out a release this week trumpeting the news, which drew a response from Fox.

“The bottom line here, it is all about finishing No. 1 for the season, while over there it is about celebrating not losing by as much as they used to,” said Fox Sports VP Dan Bell. “I think our record of 144-5-1 against CBS speaks for itself.” CBS Sports VP LeslieAnne Wade retorted, “We are more focused on the quality of the show than ratings, although we think they are directly related.”